Mischief once bubbled...
Hey everyone im workin on becoming a DM, but i really want a career that i could make a living out of and being a DM doesnt seem realible. I love looking at fish and i thought being a photographer would be a cool job. What does one need to become a pro underwater photographer and how hard would it be to get a job as an underwater photographer?
Thanks
Mischief
this post may sound harsh but dont take it the wrong way, its just giving you the reality.
being a pro and being paid for your work are two totally seperate arenas, there are alot of good photographers out there that should be paid but who arent and then there are the lucky few who do.
do you have any previous photographic experince? because becoming a professional doesnt happen overnight it may take years or it may not happen at all. you must be able to hone your skills in capturing the image that takes a persons breath away, and then you have to find someone who is willing to pay for a print of the image, and paying a price that isnt selling your work out to cheaply(i see this to often with some people)
as for people who work with dive operations who do the video/photo work are normally people who have a background in photo or video and in most cases have there own equipment before are hired on.
When they are hired on theres alot of work that goes into it (preping the equipment, predive checks, normal predive checks, gettting the images underwater of either the group or for someone who has hired your services, then after the dive you have to teardown the equipment and process the images (be it film to the devolper, or onto a computer to edit, which can be very time consuming) and then the delivery of the images to the client (be your boss or the divers) and making sure that they are happy with the end product.
oh almost forgot, that in most areas, dive operations dont hire DMs but require the minimum of OWSI with some specialties
as for pay it varies with the location and of your certifications and skills, the more you know the better you will be paid, but that isnt always true. (more or less if your going to do this you need to have skills that not many people in that area know or do to get paid for it)
I am a divemaster and i love photography but my love for photography before i was certified, it started when i was in high school working on the year book and progressed from there.
Currently im in college, studying photography to hone my skills. During this i have built a pretty good understanding of light and fine tuning of my skills, but they are know where near what my instructors are who are professional photographers (in the sense that they have been hired and get paid for the photos they take). I aspire in the future to run my own studio and make a living out of it, but i also realize that they may not happen so im also working on another degree in web/graphic design/devolpment (basically covers everything from advertising work to major web site design). got a little off topic but to help in getting my foot in the industry i have been given the opportunity to work with a photographer (whos not a pro, as he has a normal job) who works with a majority of the dance/drill teams and cheerleading squads in the my hometown to take pictures during there events so that the parents will have some keepsakes of there childrens HS years. The opportunity will help me build a portfolio and base with the parents so that in the future i may get some calls from them for portrits or what not, but at this point i dont know, only time will tell
my best reccomendation would be take a couple of classes in photography(at the local community college) or on your next vacation go to grand cayman and take a course in underwater photography from the cathy church school. my reccomendation to you would be to first build a portfolio of images that you can show to people(physical or digital(website))
changing topics to videography
as for videography it goes back to alot of photography how well can you take the video, edit, produce it so that the end product looks good. one note that videography is alot more costly and time consuming then photography because more is involved and the equipment needed is much more(a good video editting setup and easily cost more then the camera and housing which for a good camera(ie 3 ccd cam and housing is around $5k) even a good photo editing setup can be in the multi thousends if you want to have consistant and exact results (as a example my photo setup for editting that is finished has cost over 6k, and im not even finished and that is only the computer, monitor, flat bed scanner(ideal would be a nikon coolscanbut i dont have the money for that yet) and printers, and there are items i havent listed but are necessary)
If you want anymore help i will be more then glad to help you, but dont take this the wrong way just trying to put a little reality into this thread
Scubatooth
Dan
